Pulitzer Prize Biography Winner
Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe
by David Herbert Donald
Summary
David Herbert Donald traces the turbulent life of novelist Thomas Wolfe, from his boyhood in Asheville, North Carolina, to his rise as the author of Look Homeward, Angel and his early death at thirty seven. The book examines Wolfe's sprawling autobiographical fiction, his demanding relationship with editor Maxwell Perkins, and the personal excesses that fueled his prose. It stands as a measured account of a writer whose ambition outran his short life.
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Historical Context & Significance
Donald, a Harvard historian, had already won a Pulitzer for his biography of Charles Sumner before earning this second prize in 1988.